CAT 2026 is on 29 November
The best app to organize CAT notes, for the weeks between now and the test.
Registration for CAT 2026 closed on 22 September, so the cycle is now about what you have already collected: formula sheets from your coaching batch, screenshots of questions you missed, mock analyses, and the odd voice note where you talked a solution through. Most of it sits in a chat app, a gallery and two notebooks. This page compares the apps people use to keep it in one place, and says plainly where each one fits.
How CAT 2026 is built, and why it shapes your notes
CAT 2026 is a 120-minute computer-based test on Sunday, 29 November 2026, held in three sessions and conducted by IIM Indore. It has three sections: Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension, Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning, and Quantitative Ability. Each section gets exactly 40 minutes and you cannot move between sections while one is running. That last rule is what matters for notes. Within a section you have to choose what to attempt and what to leave, so the notes that help are the ones that record your own choices and mistakes: which passages cost you time, which sets you should have skipped, which formulas you reached for on the wrong question. Rehearsal keeps that material, whatever form it arrived in, and lets you ask it questions such as which Quant topics keep appearing in your error log.
Notion vs Evernote vs OneNote vs Google Keep vs Rehearsal, for CAT
The apps most lists recommend, compared on what matters when your material comes from coaching PDFs, screenshots and mocks: what each one takes in, how you get it back, and whether ChatGPT or Claude can read it. Pricing as of September 2026; check each provider for current terms.
| Tool | Built for | What it captures | How you get it back | Readable by ChatGPT / Claude? | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rehearsal | Material that arrives as PDFs, screenshots and voice, not typed pages | Screenshots, coaching PDFs, links, voice notes (auto-transcribed) | Ask a question and get an answer cited to your own notes | Live MCP connector: ChatGPT and Claude can search your notes | Free tier; Unlimited from ₹299/mo ($2.99) on the discounted plan |
| Notion | Typed formula sheets, mock trackers and error logs | Typed notes, databases, file uploads; no voice transcription | Search, plus Notion AI over pages you typed | No connector for your notes; Notion AI is a paid add-on | Free personal plan; AI add-on extra |
| Evernote | Typed notes and web clipping | Typed notes, web clipper, attachments | Keyword and tag search | No connector for ChatGPT or Claude | Limited free plan; check current terms |
| OneNote | Freeform typed and handwritten notes | Typed, handwritten, ink-to-text, audio | Keyword search across notebooks | No connector for ChatGPT or Claude; Copilot needs Microsoft 365 | Free with a Microsoft account |
| Google Keep | Fast, short capture: the sticky-note tier | Short notes, photos, checklists, basic voice memo | Keyword search; little structure at volume | No connector for ChatGPT or Claude | Free |
One kind of note for each CAT section
The three sections ask different things of you, so each one earns a different kind of note:
- VARC: a reading log. Keep a line for each passage that beat you: the topic, where you lost the thread, and the words you met in context. Words recalled inside a sentence stay usable; a bare word list rarely does.
- DILR: a set-selection log. With 40 minutes and no way to move to another section, the skill that matters is choosing sets. Note which set types you picked, which you skipped, and which choice you regretted. After a few mocks the pattern is visible.
- Quant: formulas with their trigger, plus an error log. Write each formula with the kind of question that calls for it. A formula without its trigger is how a right method ends up on the wrong question. Then log every mistake with its category: wrong formula, misread condition, careless arithmetic, or a question you should have left.
All three are notes about you rather than about the syllabus, which is why they are only useful if you can search them together.
Your mock analyses are the notes worth keeping
With registration closed and the test date fixed, the most useful material you hold is the record of your own mocks: the scorecard, the sectional breakup, and the questions behind each lost mark. Most aspirants look at these once and then never find them again.
The practical habit takes about a minute after each mock. Screenshot the scorecard, photograph or screenshot the questions you missed, and add a spoken line on why. Rehearsal reads the images and transcribes the voice note into the same memory, so in the last fortnight you can ask which section has lost you the most marks across your last five mocks, and get an answer from your own record.
When Notion, OneNote, Evernote or Keep is the better pick
This page is published by Rehearsal, so weigh it accordingly. Here is the honest split:
- You want a typed formula sheet or mock tracker. Use Notion. It is free for personal use, and Rehearsal has no tracker or database.
- You work through Quant and DILR by hand. A paper notebook, or OneNote with a stylus. Nothing here competes with ink.
- You want a sticky note. Google Keep, free, done.
Rehearsal earns its place in one situation: your material lives in PDFs, screenshots and voice notes across several places, and you cannot find what you saved when you need it. The honest comparison across seven second-brain apps, including where Obsidian and NotebookLM are the better pick, is at /second-brain-app.
Your coaching material is in a chat app
Ask a CAT aspirant where the formula sheets, previous-year papers and mock solutions are, and the honest answer is a batch group on WhatsApp or Telegram. Chat apps order everything by when it was sent, so a sheet from July is buried by October. Nothing is deleted. It is simply out of reach.
You can forward links, PDFs and screenshots from WhatsApp or Telegram straight to Rehearsal. They are read, filed by topic alongside your own notes, and searchable later. You choose what to send; Rehearsal does not sync your chats.
The share sheet on your phone works the same way, and voice notes recorded in the app are transcribed, so the explanation you talked through in August is searchable text in November. Status of everything else is at /roadmap.
Reading your own notes inside ChatGPT and Claude
You probably already ask ChatGPT or Claude to explain a concept. The gap is that they know everything except what you saved, so you paste your material in each time. Rehearsal closes that gap with an MCP connector live at mcp.tryrehearsal.ai/mcp. Paste the address into ChatGPT's connector settings or Claude's Connectors page, sign in once, and those apps can search your saved formulas, mock analyses, screenshots and voice notes during a conversation. That makes a request like “list the Quant topics that appear most in my error log” work against your own record. Access is read-only and you can disconnect at any time. Setup takes about three minutes: /rehearsal-mcp.
Frequently asked questions
When is CAT 2026, and is registration still open?
CAT 2026 is on Sunday, 29 November 2026, in three sessions, and IIM Indore is the conducting institute. Registration opened on 3 August 2026 and closed on 22 September 2026 at 5:00 PM IST. It was first due to close on 15 September, and the IIMs extended it with a media release dated 15 September that said the new deadline would not be extended again. Admit cards can be downloaded from 4 November 2026 until the test day, and results are expected in the first week of January 2027. All of this comes from the official CAT documents at iimcat.ac.in, which is the place to confirm any change.
What is the best app to organize CAT notes?
It depends on the kind of note. Formula sheets and topic trackers that you type suit Notion or OneNote. Handwritten working suits a notebook or a tablet with a stylus. Rehearsal suits the material that arrives from everywhere else: the coaching PDF, the screenshot of a question you missed, the voice note where you explained a solution to yourself. It reads all of that, files it by topic and lets you ask your own notes questions, in the app or from ChatGPT and Claude through its connector. If you keep everything in one typed notebook already, you probably do not need another app.
How is CAT 2026 structured, and how does that change note-taking?
CAT 2026 lasts 120 minutes and has three sections: Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension, Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning, and Quantitative Ability. Each section gets exactly 40 minutes, and you cannot move between sections while one is running. So the notes that pay off are section-shaped. For VARC, a log of passages that beat you and the words you met in context. For DILR, a record of which set types you picked, skipped and regretted. For Quant, each formula written with the kind of question that triggers it, plus an error log. The format comes from the official CAT press release of 26 July 2026.
How do I make notes for CAT in the weeks before the exam?
Stop adding new material and start recording what your mocks show. After each mock, note three things: the questions you got wrong and why, the sets or passages where you lost the most time, and the topics you skipped that you could have solved. Screenshot or photograph the question and add a one-line voice note on the reason. Written that way, your notes describe your own pattern, which is more useful in the last weeks than another summary of the syllabus. A handwritten notebook works for this too; the point is to keep it in one place you can search.
What should a CAT error log contain?
Four things per entry: the question or a photo of it, the section and topic, what you did wrong, and what you would do next time. The category of the mistake matters more than the mistake. A wrong formula, a misread condition, a set you should have skipped and a careless calculation are four different problems, and you can only see which one dominates when the entries can be searched together. Keep entries short enough that you actually write them straight after a mock.
Is Notion or Evernote better for CAT notes?
Notion, for most aspirants. It has a free personal plan and works well for a typed formula sheet and a mock tracker. Evernote is better known for clipping web pages and scanning documents, and its free plan is limited, so check its current terms before relying on it for a long cycle. Neither reads the coaching PDF you photographed or transcribes a voice note, and neither can be searched by ChatGPT or Claude the way Rehearsal's connector allows. If you type most of your notes, Notion is enough.
Can I send CAT material from WhatsApp or Telegram to Rehearsal?
Yes. You can forward links, PDFs and screenshots from WhatsApp or Telegram to Rehearsal, which reads them and files them alongside your own notes. This is not a live sync of your chats, so you choose what to send. Coaching batches often share formula sheets, previous-year papers and mock solutions through these channels, which is why forwarding matters. The share sheet on your phone and voice notes recorded in the app work the same way.
Can ChatGPT or Claude read my CAT notes?
Yes, if the notes live somewhere with an MCP connector. Rehearsal's is at mcp.tryrehearsal.ai/mcp. Paste the address into ChatGPT's connector settings or Claude's Connectors page, sign in once, and those apps can search your saved formulas, mock analyses, screenshots and voice notes during a conversation. Access is read-only and you can disconnect at any time. Setup takes about three minutes and the guide is at tryrehearsal.ai/rehearsal-mcp. Notion, Evernote, OneNote and Google Keep do not offer this for your own notes.
Is Rehearsal a CAT preparation app?
No. Rehearsal has no CAT mocks, no question bank and no coaching. It is a capture-and-recall app, an AI second brain, used by exam aspirants and working professionals. It holds what you collect during CAT preparation and makes it easy to find and ask about. For mocks and question banks, use a mock test platform; for the percentile-to-call question, the free CAT predictor on this site is at tryrehearsal.ai/tools/cat-predictor.
Bring the material you have already collected.
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